Articles

In one year, Steve Wheeler put 35,000 miles on his new Chevy pickup. You might think Wheeler has a punishing commute, or perhaps family members scattered across the country. But he racked up…

For millennia, a group of prehistoric fishes have been swimming the rivers, lakes, and coastal waters of northeastern North America. These fish – some of them approaching a…

At first look, Sherrie York’s linocut Tern of the Tide is reminiscent of Katsushika Hokusai’s iconic woodcut print The Great Wave (c. 1830). But unlike Hokusai’s piece, York…

All spring the tree frogs peeped in the dark, except those seeming lost in the grass by the wooden steps, their bodies like paper. I would let the dog out the back door at night and walk alone…

As I was prepping my fall invertebrate zoology course, a colleague mentioned that a local berry farmer had scraped mud dauber wasp nests off an outbuilding and suggested these would be of…

Black raspberries, along with raspberries and blackberries, are among the berries that grow on brambles in the Northeast. Also called blackcaps, black raspberries are the most shade tolerant…

Every forest tells a story of disturbance. The trees growing today reflect past hurricanes, abandoned farm fields, insect outbreaks, timber harvests, and even retreating glaciers. Forest…

In case you missed the memo, the double-bit cruiser axe is back in vogue – and commanding respectable prices both from online vendors and at flea markets. So, just what is a…

When I was 10 years old, fishing an inlet off the river behind our family’s animal hospital, I caught a snapping turtle of considerable size. At that point in my angling life, I used a…

Biologist Barry Wicklow spotted this gray treefrog (Dryophytes versicolor) nestled against the greenish foliose lichen (Parmelia sulcata) on a tree during an aquatic ecology study.…

The rhythm of producing a seasonal quarterly magazine often has us thinking a season or two – or more – ahead, and occasionally I momentarily lose track of what season it is…

This past winter, my partner and I became first-time owners of forestland – 30 acres of mixed hardwoods dominated by sugar maple on a north-facing ridge in Vershire, Vermont. In the…

“In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too), those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” – Charles Darwin The portrait…

Few things have affected our relationship with the outdoors as much as the surge in blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis, often referred to as deer ticks) over the past few decades. Like many…

At the height of May’s morel season, I approach a standing dead elm, its loosened gray bark peeling back like partially husked corn. My morel eyes are a point of pride, and somehow it…

In the last installment, we conducted a leak check on a chainsaw that had damage to the top end of the engine (piston, rings, and cylinder). Before replacing those components, a leak-down…

Worldwide, biodiversity is in crisis. Species are disappearing at an estimated 100 to 1,000 times the historical rate, driven primarily by habitat destruction and climate change. According to…

During a trip with Saint Michael’s College students to Bunratty Castle in Ireland, our guide explained that medieval castle defenders poured scalding liquids on invaders through a…

In early June 2023, I was driving down the Taconic Parkway through New York’s Hudson Valley when I noticed an abrupt change to the roadside scenery. The lush forest canopy that had been…

Named for the string of lakes where the Connecticut River begins its 400-mile flow from northern New Hampshire, the Connecticut Lakes Headwaters region has long been prized for its thick…